I wouldn't be surprised if this topic has been addressed here before, so I apologize in advance to anybody who's annoyed by its being repeated, if that's in fact the case.

Coins with center holes are associated most strongly with oriental issues, but there are plenty of others as well. I can see some practical aspects that might favor such a configuration. They can be strung together for ease of carry absent pocket or purse. A rod can serve to facilitate stacking them. Put graduated markings on said rod, and tallying becomes a snap.

But I kind of doubt any of those considerations account for this feature being incorporated into so many modern coins.

Here in the United States, it's tokens you see with a center hole, so I've included a couple of those at the top just for fun.

Incidentally, I haven't identified the middle coin in the second row. I don't even know that I haven't displayed one side and/or the other upside down!

Colonial regimes in Africa and the Pacific put holes in at least the low-denomination coins so that the locals, whose native dress did not include pockets, could carry them around on strings around their necks. That may sound patronising today, but it was the actual reason stated at the time. Your Southern Rhodesia coin is an example of this.

European early 20th century cupronickel coins are often holed. Very often these holed cupronickel coins replaced unholed silver coins the same size, making the hole a great big impossible-to-miss signpost shouting "this coin is not made of silver". The French, Danish and Norwegian coins probably fall under this category.

Other times, the hole is purely decorative, or used to help both humans and machines easily distinguish two similiar-sized coins from each other. In this sense the holes serve the same purpose as unusual shapes or different edges. The Greek and Spanish coins are in this category.

The holed tokens above are all used in countries (America and South Korea) where none of the actual coinage is holed, so a huge hole shouts "this is a token, not a coin". Some tokens (I'm thinking mainly of certain North American transport tokens and New Zealand milk tokens) have elaborately-shaped voids in them to even more accentuate their non-coin-ness.

Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis

What's interesting about the Danish 25 ore is that from 1924 through WWII they were holed. Then from 1948 to 1967, the hole dsappeared, only to make a comeback from 1966 to 1988 (apparently there was an overlap in the styles in 1966-67).

Another reason for a holed coin would be to allow a coin of a specific amount of metal to have a larger diameter. (Coins work best I a certain size range, not too big or too small. If you have too many denominations the difference in sizes can become too slight, so you start adding holes and two coins of the same size can instantly be told apart. You hole the lower denomination or someone might try to pass off a low denomination as a high one by putting a hole in it.)

They also help in value identification in countries where a large percentage of the country is illiterate. Denominations are recognized by size, color, holed or not, etc.

Disclaimer: While a tremendous amount of effort goes into ensuring the accuracy of the information contained in this site, Coin Community assumes no liability for errors. Copyright 2005 - 2019 Coin Community Family- all rights reserved worldwide. Use of any images or content on this website without prior written permission of Coin Community or the original lender is strictly prohibited.Contact Us | Advertise Here | Privacy Policy / Terms of Use